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Aerospace at West Virginia University

Morgantown, WV · Public · Bachelor's Degree · Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
72 /100
DegreeWorth Score (Base Case)
73
Optimistic
72
Base Case
66
Pessimistic
Earnings $72,210/yr (-1% vs median)
AI Risk High (41% exposed)
Job Market Medium (25,800 openings/yr)

How AI Changes the Outlook

Three scenarios based on how aggressively AI disrupts the career paths available to Aerospace graduates.

Optimistic
No Disruption		 Base Case
Gradual AI		 Pessimistic
Aggressive AI
10-Year Earnings $1,027K $804K $567K
Earnings Multiple (In-State) 26.6x 20.8x 14.7x
Earnings Multiple (Out-of-State) 9.4x 7.3x 5.2x
Viable Career Paths 5 of 5 5 of 5 5 of 5
DegreeWorth Score 73 72 66

10-Year Earnings Projection

*Year 1 uses actual reported earnings. Scenarios diverge as AI impact compounds over time.

4-Year Tuition (In-State)
$38,592
Out-of-state: $109,440
Median Debt at Graduation
$27,242
4.5 months of Year 1 earnings
Reported Earnings (5 Year)
$96,827
34% growth from Year 1

Career Paths

Where Aerospace graduates typically work. Raw data — no blending. The scenarios above model how these factors interact. This field has roughly 25,800 combined openings per year.

Career Path Wage Openings/yr Growth AI Risk
Architectural and engineering managers $167,740 14,500 +3.8% 41%
Aerospace engineers $134,830 4,500 +6.1% 57%
Engineering teachers, postsecondary $106,120 4,100 +8.1% 50%
Avionics technicians $81,390 1,800 +8.2% 24%
Aerospace engineering and operations technologists and technicians $79,830 900 +8.1% 32%

Compare & Explore

Aerospace at Other Schools

California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo ($85,509) Case Western Reserve University ($83,639) University of Colorado Boulder ($81,835) University of Notre Dame ($81,057) The University of Texas at Austin ($81,022) University of Michigan-Ann Arbor ($80,225) Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus ($79,300) University of Southern California ($78,980)

Other Majors at West Virginia University

Mining and Mineral Engineering ($85,897) Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering ($79,662) Computer Engineering ($76,314) Industrial Engineering ($75,606) Computer Science ($74,159) Mechanical Engineering ($71,504) Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing ($71,298) Chemical Engineering ($69,875)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the DegreeWorth Score for Aerospace at West Virginia University?
This program scores 72/100 in the Base Case scenario, factoring in earnings, AI disruption risk, job market size, and earnings multiple. The score ranges from 73 (optimistic) to 66 (pessimistic) depending on AI's impact.
How does AI affect Aerospace career prospects?
We model three scenarios: Optimistic (no disruption), Base Case (gradual AI adoption), and Pessimistic (aggressive AI displacement). In the base case, Aerospace graduates retain 5 of 5 viable career paths. 10-year earnings range from $567,280 (pessimistic) to $1,026,864 (optimistic).
How many job openings are there for Aerospace graduates?
The career paths mapped to Aerospace have roughly 25,800 combined job openings per year nationally, making this a medium job market.
Is Aerospace at West Virginia University worth it?
In the Base Case, this degree earns 20.8x its in-state tuition over 10 years. Even in the Pessimistic scenario, the multiple is 14.7x. The spread between scenarios tells you how sensitive this degree is to AI disruption.
Data: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (earnings, debt), Bureau of Labor Statistics 2024-2034 (employment projections), OpenAI GPTs-are-GPTs research (AI task exposure), Felten et al. AIOE. Scenarios use a continuous weighting function combining AI exposure and BLS job growth projections. "Earnings Multiple" is total 10-year projected earnings divided by tuition — not a discounted financial ROI. Last updated 2025.